The stance of the communists against every imperialist union is a fundamental criterion

(First published in “Rizospastis”, 15th of January 2012)

Elisseos Vagenas
Member of the CC, responsible for the International Relations Section of the CC

Kazakhstan. Zhanaozen. December 2011. Bloody suppression of the strike mobilization. 16 dead workers. Hundreds of injuries and arrests. The policy of supporting the Eurasian Economic Community, in which Kazakhstan, along with Russia and Belarus, participate, leads to the unacceptable stance of slandering the working class struggle and praising the anti-worker crime .

The global capitalist crisis, a consequence of the basic contradiction of the capitalist system, has led to the further sharpening of inter-imperialist contradictions, to the promotion of new strong imperialist powers, which in turn seek to form new inter-state unions, with multiple goals: the strengthening of their position in opposition to their global rivals, the control of raw materials, energy, its transport routes, the control of shares of the market for their monopolies, as well as the further exploitation of the working class, the reinforcement of bourgeois power in every country, using the “tools” provided by the interstate imperialist unions.

Thus we see next to our various “well-known” unions, such as the EU, the emergence of new ones, both on the territory of the former USSR and in Latin America. These unions may be new, but the “roots” of their creation are none other than those which were established by the works of Lenin: that in the era of imperialism, which is the final stage of capitalism, international unions of capitalists are formed which divide up the world.

An attempt at whitewashing

An attempt is being carried out by certain forces to whitewash this objective of the bourgeois classes in these regions, in the name of the formation of a “multi-polar world”. According to this viewpoint, it is something positive for the peoples that other strong “poles” are emerging in the international arena, beyond the USA and the EU. And as an additional argument the epoch when the USSR existed, which operated as a “counter-weight”, is pointed to.

At the same time, the attempt to whitewash the new inter-state unions claims that these unions are emerging to assist “national capital” against the so-called “comprador andsubservient to foreigners” capital, in this way to reinforce “development”, to impede the penetration of the USA and other imperialist organizations, such as NATO and the EU, in these regions, and even to safeguard “national sovereignty”, which otherwise is threatened by international imperialism.

Unfortunately, these views are not only supported by bourgeois forces, but also by parties that are characterized as “left”, even communist, like the CP of Brazil ( regarding the unions in the region of Latin America) or the CP of the Russian Federation (in the so-called Eurasia region).

What they forget

Nevertheless, these parties have forgotten to look at the issue from a class perspective! If they had done so they would see that the Soviet Union had no relation with these new inter-state unions. And this is because we are dealing with unions which are built on the terrain of monopoly capitalism, that is to say imperialism. In addition, imperialism must not be understood simplistically, as an aggressive policy of the strongest powers, which comes to impose itself on the peoples from outside with the power of money and weapons. In today’s conditions every country, where capitalist relations of production prevail, irrespective of the level of development of its productive forces, is incorporated into the international imperialist system, is a section of it!

If, then, we deal with class approach to the development the formation of the new interstate unions, which are being formed either in Eurasia or in Latin America, we will see that they are not being created to serve the peoples’ interests, but to promote the interests of capital of the specific countries and their monopolies.

So , for example, Brazil, where capital is seeing today an important increase in its profitability, operates as the “engine” in the new inter-state unions which are being formed in Latin America. The economic and diplomatic activity of the Brazilian state has the goal of making Brazil a strong capitalist player within the framework of the imperialist “pyramid”. Already in certain markets in Latin America Brazilian multi-national companies, which are funded by public money, are pre-dominant! Russia operates similarly, as well as the Russian monopolies, on the terrain of the former USSR.

With the formation of new inter-state unions, which constitute expressions of regional capitalist unification, and always emerge on the basis of the laws of the market economy, the bourgeois classes seek to unite their forces, against their rivals and at the expense of the working class. The policy of supporting these unions transforms the communist and labour movement into a tool supporting capitalist “development”, which strengthens the positions of capital and leads the workers to the “torture chamber”, to social consensus for the increase of the “competitiveness” of the “national economy” and the strengthening of the specific inter-state imperialist union.

Also the “multi-polar world” is not really more peaceful and safe for the peoples, as it is a world of harsh imperialist predatory alliances and conflicts, which are waged in every way: economic, political, diplomatic, espionage, military etc.

Dangerous consequences

Such an approach of supporting the new imperialist unions could be catastrophic for the communist movement, which in this way calls on the people to choose imperialist. It could lead to positions and actions that may expose it. We will provide a relevant example.

As is well-known, at the end of last year in the city of Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, a great massacre took place, when the authorities with weapons suppressed the protest of the striking workers, who had already reached the limits of destitution after a strike for many months in a large Kazakh-Chinese oil company. The workers demanded the increase of wages and the improvement of working conditions, the release of their comrades, the unhindered functioning of their trade unions, and the cancellation of hundreds of intimidating dismissals. The negotiations between the workers and the employers did not bring about any results and the workers started to promote not only economic demands, but also political ones, such as the resignation of the country’s president and the nationalization of the natural resources of the country. The violent suppression led to the death of 16 workers and the wounding of dozens of others.

The great majority of the communist and workers’ parties, which participated in the recent 13th International Meeting, hosted by the KKE in Athens, condemned the repression of the working class struggle and expressed their solidarity with the striking oil industry workers of Kazakhstan.

On the 4/1 in the newspaper of the CP of Ukraine, the “Communist”, published an article with the title: “the “orange” express Moscow-Astana” in which the developments in Kazakhstan, as well as the demonstrations in Russia against the fraud which took place in the parliamentary elections and the obstacles which various political forces face in their activity, are assessed to constitute “attempts of the USA to destabilize the political and economic situation of these two countries on which, in essence, the Eurasian Economic Community is supported, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation.” It should be noted here that the CP of the Ukraine is in favour Ukraine joining the Eurasian Economic Community, in which up to now Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus participate.

The same article mentions that the “mobilizations of the workers at the oil company “Karazhanbasmunai” took place at the initiative of the trade union’s lawyer Natalia Sokolova, who has been charged on many occasions by the authorities for administrative violations. Research carried out by Kazakh journalists regarding this person revealed a series of provocations against the company. If we take into account that in the past Ms Sokolova worked as a translator in a humanitarian mission of the US army and navy, as well as collaborating on various issues with the agency of the US State Department, USAID, the picture becomes clear!”

As is well-known Sokolova has been sentenced to 6 years in prison and is now in prison, on charges of “stirring up social hatred”, “the violation of order” and “the organization of illegal rallies, meetings, demonstrations”, while the information concerning her connection with the USA has been refuted and characterized as a provocation by a series of organizations from Kazakhstan.

In the article there are even references to the economic possibilities (oil, silver, copper, zinc, nickel, phosphorus, natural gas, coal, managanese, gold and tin deposits) in Kazakhstan, as well as regarding the geopolitical significance of Kazakhstan, in a key position, between the Middle East, Russia, China, the Caspian and the Caucasus. The article reaches the conclusion that “ The future of the Eurasian Union is directly linked to the fate of Kazakhstan. The leadership of Kazakhstan reacted in a tough, wise and competent manner.”

No to every imperialist union

There is no doubt that every imperialist power and above all the USA and the EU seek to place obstacles to prevent the emergence and functioning of other imperialist unions, as they operate in competition with their interests. In addition, it is well-known that the imperialist powers have multi-tentacled mechanisms to intervene, from the international electronic media to the various NGOs, “research institutes”, which they distribute money to in order to influence and corrupt consciousnesses etc There is specific information regarding the role played by a series of imperialist agencies in the training of forces, which were active in the so-called Arab Spring and/or active now in Syria. Of course the interests and plans of each imperialist power must not be ignored, in the various regions, at any given moment in time. The struggle against the imperialist plans must be strengthened everywhere. Nevertheless, the communists will make tragic mistakes and take unacceptable positions (such as the specific article which opposes the working class struggles and applauds their bloody suppression), if they substitute the class approach to the developments with non-class allegedly “geopolitical” theories, which demand that we choose imperialist, concealing the basic contradiction capital-labour, which is the same in all the capitalist countries.

This is why it is a tragic mistake to separate the bourgeois class into “national” and “subservient to foreigners” and just as dangerous and mistaken to choose to support an imperialist union or imperialist. The communist and labour movement must have a clear stance in opposition to every imperialist union, to struggle for the disengagement of the countries from the imperialist plans and unions, with the simultaneous overthrow of the capitalist system which creates them.